zur Diaschau vom Mai 2002...
zur Diaschau vom Juni 2007...

die Königin der deutschen Eichen

Damwild am Futterplatz

Schloßansicht über den See im
Jahre 1904

Schloßansicht von 1910

Das Schloßcafe bietet neben
Erfrischendem auch eine kleine 
Broschüre mit Wanderkarte
sowie Ansichtskarten an.

Anfahrt: zwei bis drei Autostunden
vom Berliner Zentrum, oder per
Bahn über Neubrandenburg nach
Stavenhagen, dann eine kleine
Wanderung...

"Ick weit einen Eikbom, de steiht an de See,
De Nurdstorm, de brus't in sin Knäst,
Stolz reckt hei de mächtige Kron in de Höh;
So is dat all dusend Johr west."

Doch nicht nur diese Rieseneiche mit ihren 11 Metern Stammumfang, 35.5 Metern Höhe und 180 Festmetern Holz ist einen Besuch wert. Die "Eichenallee" der besonderen Art ist umgeben von einem großen Damwildgehege und ist damit ein weltweit einmaliger Naturpark.
Die Haltung von Wild unter den Bäumen spiegelt die Bedingungen wider, unter denen die Eichen zur heutigen Größe heranwachsen konnten. Der Wald wurde von den ehemals slawischen Dorfwohnern als "Hudewald" genutzt; die Eicheln waren ein gutes Schweinefutter. Der Ortsnamen belegt diese slawische Nutzung: "Iva" bedeutet "Weide".

Wenn der Leser dieser Zeilen sich nun entschließt, nach Ivenack zu fahren, oder einen kleinen Abstecher auf der Fahrt zum/vom Urlaub an der Ostseeküste macht, dann möchte ich ihm noch einige Tips mit auf den Weg geben. Gleich am Ortseingang sollte er das Auto abstellen. Denn auf einem Spaziergang durch das Dorf entdeckt man die schönen Fachwerkhäuser, die Orangerie, die Kirche und das Schloß - erbaut auf den Grundmauern des im Jahre 1252 an diesem Ort gestifteten Zisterziensernonnen-Klosters.

Der Weg zum Gehege führt vorbei am imposanten Marstall des ca. 1760 gegründeten Gestüts. Hier lebte der berühmte Schimmelhengst Herodot, der von den Franzosen nach der Besetzung Mecklenburgs im Jahre 1806 entführt und nach dem Pariser Frieden 1814 durch Generalfeldmarschall Blücher nach Ivenack zurückgebracht wurde. Ein alter Chronist will wissen, daß Napoleon den Hengst bei allen Siegeszügen geritten habe. Der damalige Graf, Albrecht Joachim von Plessen und seine Söhne waren maßgeblich an der Gründung der ersten deutschen Pferderennbahn in (Bad) Doberan beteiligt. Kurz nach dem Tod des Grafen besuchte ein weltbekannter englischer Reiter auf seiner Deutschlandreise das Gestüt. Er berichtete im Jahre 1829 im "Sporting Magazine" unter anderem:

" Friday, [August] 22d. [1828] We all mounted our horses as  soon as breakfast was over, and proceeded to Avenack, the magnificent seat of count Plessen, distant from Basedow about eighteen English miles. Of this family I have already spoken, the late Count having died about six weeks previous to my  arrival in Germany, and which circumstance was a great drawback from the sport at Dobberan, his sons having eight horses in training, which of course did not start. The third and youngest son also is one of the best gentleman jockeys in Germany; and, by all that I could learn, I should have found him a formidable opponent in the race for the Silver Cup.
Of the late Count I must say a word, although I had not the pleasure to of seeing him previously to his beeing called to his last home. From all I heard from him, he was one of the liberal, open-hearted, old-fashioned sort of country gentlemen, of which all Europe was once proud, but whom the over-refinement and hypocritical canting of the present day have endeavored to supplant by a cantious, stiff-necked, cold-blooded, game-preserving exquisite, whose appearance is all but suspicious, and who thinks of little else but himself. This much respected Nobleman lived on an advanced age, having kept a pack of fox-hounds for upwards of fifty years, and - as I shall shew - was one of the most extensive breeders of horses in Germany.
The name of this Noble family is Maltzahn of whom there are;three brothers. The elder, the present Count, was not at home; but the two Barons Maltzahn received us with the greatest kindness, and evinced much pleasure in shewing us all the stud. The youngest of the brothers was for some years the Minister of the Court of Prussia in England, which situation he relinquished only a few years since. It is unnecessary then to add that he was able to converse to us in English.
We where much pleased with the approach to this grand seat, which was through a noble avenue of oaks; and - the first I had seen in Germany - a deer park adorned the domain. Whether it be that we are accustomed to it in England, but the seat of a Nobleman appears to want this noble appendage; and when we reflect on the name bestowed upon it by antiquity, it can scarcely be purchased at too high a price. The timber in this park is particularly fine; there is a piece of water, four miles round; and - as far I could judge by merely driving though it - a good herd of party-coloured fallow deer.
To us the grand sight was now to come - of course I mean the stud. Reader, do not stare; neither imagine I am writing with a travellers licence, when I state, that in the two first stables we entered we saw one hundred horses in condition -;that is to say, with sleek coats and in body clothes! These were exclusive of race-horses, hacks, &c. which was dispersed in other stables.
The breeding stud, at the Counts death, consisted of about ;twenty stallions and one hundred and thirty brood mares, which, with colts of various ages and foals, made the sum total rather more than five hundred. The present Count has selected for himself seven stallions, fifty-four brood mares with some colts, and all the foals of this year, making a total of two hundred and fifty; and the two younger brothers, the Barons Maltzahn possess the rest.
I think I have stated before, that, in a oration spoken in a Court of Justice by the renowned Isocrates, he contented himself with the proof of the nobility of his client, by tracing his pedigree to the first of his countrymen who had won a prize in the chariot-race at the Olympic Games. Horses then were the possessions only of the rich and great, as indeed they in a great measure are at present. The wealth of the principle characters in the Bible also is generally estimated by the amount of their cattle, and some of them were truly rich in this description of property.
If Tacitus is to be credited, the Germans have ever been famous for immense herds of cattle; but I little imagined that in any one mans possession I should find the stock as is kept at Avenack. I have already enumerated the stud of horses, therefore I need not recur to that; but curiosity led me to ascertain the number of sheep on the farms occupied by the Count, when I found it amounted to fifteen thousand! And pray, said I, to Baron Maltzahn, how many cows do you keep here? Why, replied he, in consequence of the great number of horses and our large flock of sheep, we only have thirteen hundred cows!! "
von Charles James Apperley, bekannter unter seinem Pseudonym "Nimrod".